Marvel team at mall ensures pleasant experience

KUALA LUMPUR: In the run-up to Chinese New Year this weekend, Berjaya Times Square Kuala Lumpur (BTSKL), which is one of the world’s largest malls, is seeing some 45,000 to 50,000 shoppers each day who are rushing to make their festive purchases.

With such crowds, the mall has allocated more customer service personnel to help direct shoppers, some of whom get lost in the crowd, while others need help finding their way to entertainment outlets such as the cineplexes and Manekineko Karaoke (Level 1), Jungle Gym Land (Level 3) and Berjaya Times Square Theme Park (Level 5).

However, what usually comes as a surprise to shoppers is how BTSKL’s customer service personnel know the location of any particular shop when asked.

The mall’s assistant general manager for marketing and promotions Alex Liew said while having a good memory is a bonus, it all boils down to BTSKL’s customer service training.

“This is typically conducted by supervisors for six months. New personnel are also required to familiarise themselves with the mall and its layout, SOP for internal communication and other reporting and documentation tasks.”

Liew said repetition is the key component of their training and over time, most customer service personnel will recognise a pattern or the most asked-about shops and amenities. Its customer service personnel are also required to walk around the mall during off-peak hours to help ensure that all its amenities are in order.

He added that aside from representing the mall and helping customers with directions, customer service teams are always ready to assist those with special needs, provide information to tourists about the city and collect data, which is used to offer customers the products and services they want.

He said as a city mall for some 20 years, BTSKL has learnt from the experience of past teams and refined its internal processes. Thus, 80% of its customer service training is done in-house and on an on-the-job basis.

“We are now looking to expand our communications capabilities to converse in other languages apart from Bahasa Melayu and English. This is prompted by the fact that we have a lot of tourists from China, Japan, Europe, the US and India visiting our mall.”

Customer service assistant Noor Hafizah Mohd Shah, 32, a single parent of two, has been on the job for over three years. She said she loves assisting shoppers, especially since she generally likes interacting with people.

“Many may not realise it, but there is much one can learn from the shoppers as each one who comes to us for assistance has a different personality. So, we learn to adapt how we communicate with them.

“Most of our shoppers are nice, but some can be rude and unreasonable. That’s ok, since they may be under stress as well.”

Noor Hafizah said having a good memory helps her do the job efficiently, adding: “Once you are familiar with the locations in the mall, it is quite straightforward.”

Customer service officer Hairul Azizi Abdul Aziz, 39, who is married with three children, said he decided to work in customer service as it gives him the opportunity to meet people from different countries.

“I have been in customer service for 15 years, and it is an experience learning to handle and manage our shoppers each day.

“Having a good memory is important to do my job efficiently, but I believe anyone can do it as long as one gets familiar with the mall and the location of all the shops.”

Hairul also said career prospects at BTSKL are good, as he started as a customer service assistant before being promoted to an officer.

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